Saccomanni plans to rev up economy

Vows to lower business and labor taxes in Davos

(By Emily Backus)
(ANSA) - Rome, January 24 - The Italian government aims to
"reduce taxes on labour and businesses" Economy Minister
Fabrizio Saccomanni told journalists on Friday at the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

As a "first sign" in that direction, the government is
delaying a payment deadline for the Inail business tax to May,
granting three "free" months of liquidity, Saccomanni said.

The minister added that his government's program for
privatizing and divesting public assets is being launched
Friday, beginning with the Italian postal company Poste Italiane
and its air-traffic company ENAV.

The minister said that the proposed privatizations will be
the subject of Friday's cabinet meeting in Rome, and said the
program will last two years.

Saccomanni also expressed optimism about high investor
interest in Italian assets.

"There is extremely high interest in Italy," said
Saccomanni, adding that the Italian government's reforms and
public finance efforts have been "widely appreciated".

"The perception of Italy has changed. Also here in Davos.

There are clear indications that public finances are in order as
well as recovery, beyond the scepticism of a few, especially in
Italy," the minister told Italian newspaper La Stampa in an
interview.

Saccomanni attributed the change in perception to "overall
privatization programme, the project of repatriating capital,
the overall strategy of structural reforms''.
"In any case, we've done pension reform and now we're
working on taxes. We're moving forward," he added.

Saccomanni said that after a deeply recessionary first
half, Italy's economy in 2013 saw zero growth in the third
quarter, and is showing growth in the last of 0.2-0.4%.
"In 2014, we will be around 1%, by our estimates,"
Saccomanni told the newspaper.
In Davos on Friday, Saccomanni told journalists that Italy
and Switzerland are "close" to an agreement concerning taxes on
illicit deposits made from Italy across the alps.

The minister reported that a morning meeting with his Swiss
counterpart Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf went "well" but cautioned
that he could not "give a precise date" for when the deal would
be sealed. The minister said in the meeting he explained plans
to Widmer-Schlumpf for Italian reform on treatment of
tax-dodgers.
"I illustrated what the (Italian) government intends to do
this afternoon when I return to Rome," Saccomanni said.

"The cabinet will approve a new structure on relationships
between the tax authority and evaders, which we maintain must be
an Italian cornerstone for making bilateral agreements with
other countries," the minister added.

Saccomanni did not explain the nature of the changes, but
did say they aim to provide "a clear base" for negotiating "with
single countries or on an international level, for example in
the OECD headquarters".

Saccomanni said the Swiss-Italian agreement will not follow
the Rubik Project model, a Swiss initiative to create and
administer a flat-rate tax on behalf of other governments,
starting with Germany and the UK, but that maintains full bank
secrecy.

"We never believed that to be proposable, because it
maintains anonymity levels that we do not intend to introduce
into Italian legislation. We can not accept residual forms of
anonymity, because they would not be consistent with the new
Italian legislation," Saccomanni said.

Saccomanni added that Italy is working on automated data
exchange with Switzerland as well as an international norm for
data exchange also with other countries.